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21 October 2006

Arnold treble smashes Saints

Coalville Town 2nd XI  5  Northampton Saints 2nd XI  1

DTZ 2nd XI East Midlands Division One

Niki Arnold's hat-trick brought to an end Northampton Saints' unbeaten record and returned Coalville back to winning form.

Town switched things around for this game, reverting to a more orthodox 4-4-2 formation. It was a change that was to work spectacularly for Coalville.

Coalville stormed forward early on and Andy Whitby soon went close with a strike on goal. Town continued to apply pressure on the Northampton defence, with skipper Tony Crowie and Liam McArthur working well together in the centre of midfield.

On the 13th minute, Crowie slipped the ball to Arnold in the centre of park. Arnold dribbled his way through a couple of tackles and into the dee before striking low and hard into the goal, via the Saints' keepers kicker.

But less than a minute later, the visitors to King Edward VII College had levelled the scores. Coalville hit back almost instantly, though. McArthur played the ball out to the right for Glen Marston, who pulled the ball back for Arnold to smash home his second of the game.

Two minutes later, Coalville further extended the lead. Brent Clamp and Tony Crowie combined and the ball was played into the area where McArthur was on hand to turn it past the Northampton keeper.

Coalville continued to dominate play, and it really wasn't clear which team was unbeaten and lying second and which team had suffered two defeats and were lying in the bottom half.

Carl Marshall was controlling things at the back for Town and with Arnold in scintillating form up front, Coalville looked dangerous throughout the game.

A minute into the second half Coalville again opened up the Northampton defence to allow Gareth Turner to fire home Andy Whitby's cross and make it 4-1.

Five minutes later and Town had sealed their win, and Arnold his hat-trick, when Marston played the ball into the dee after a good pass from Sam Crowie. The ball found it's way to Arnold's stick and he was able to slot home into the corner to make it 5-1.

Coalville threatened more goals after this without adding to the scoreline, but Whitby and Scott Meadows both went close. Northampton offered very little, in truth, and it was hard to see how they have made such a good start on this display. But for Town, this was much more like it. Town travel to Leicester-outfit Soar Valley on Saturday for a Leicestershire derby.